Photo: ADAC Motorsport

Josh Files makes it a double win at the Red Bull Ring

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Target Competition’s Josh Files led from lights to flag to score his third victory of the year, and second of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

The reigning champion started strongly, taking his Honda to the first position of the race, ahead of the Audis of pole man Robin Brezina and Sandro Kaibach. Brezina lost several positions, with Moritz Oestreich putting his Honda ahead of Kaibach.

Further back, Mike Halder (SEAT) was in fifth position, and managed to overtake Kaiback at the start of the second lap, with the Audi falling into the grip of Kris Richard’s Honda.

The safety car was called out on lap five as Alex Morgan’s SEAT stopped on the trackside at Turn 2, after tangling with Florian Thoma’s Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. The race was neutralised for two laps.

Track went green again on lap eight, with Files retaining his lead ahead of Oestreich and Halder. The restart procedure was investigated by the stewards, as there were overtaking manoeuvres before the line. Pascal Eberle (SEAT) tangled with Nico Kankkunen’s Audi, going wide at Turn 3, but managing to find the tarmac escape route without hitting the barriers.

Jose Rodrigues (Honda) started a battle with Sandro Kaibach for seventh position, with the Portuguese struggling with lack of top straight line speed against his rival. Sheldon van der Linde’s Audi joined the pair with five minutes to go. Rodrigues got through at Turn 2 on lap 16, but Kaibach recovered the position at the next turn thanks to his superior speed.

Luca Engstler had to retire with damage on his front right suspension with two minutes left on the clock, parking his his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR on the main straight, which caused the last sector to be yellow flagged for the rest of the race.

At the chequered flag, Files took his third win of the season after dominating the Red Bull Ring weekend, followed by Oestreich and Halder, again on the podium after yesterday’s result.

Richard was fourth, followed by Dino Calcum’s Opel Astra. The Audis of Antti Buri in sixth and Sandro Kaibach followed, with Jose Rodrigues having to settle for eighth place. Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Brezina completed the top ten, with the pole man being the winner of the rookie class.

Next round of the TCR Germany series takes place at Oschersleben on July 7th to 9th.